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As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, UkraineAlert delivers the best Atlantic Council expert insight and analysis on Ukraine twice a week directly to your inbox.

editor’s picks

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2014

As Winter Nears in Ukraine, Will Moscow Attempt Another Strategic Invasion?

By James Rupert

Continued Attacks Show Kremlin May Be Preparing Drive Toward Crimea, Analysts Say Distracted US and European policymakers may feel grateful that this month’s truce has slowed the Russia-Ukraine war. The Obama administration is seized with the Syria-Iraq crisis and Congress has gone home to campaign for the November 4 election. Europe faces an internal battle […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 25, 2014

Ukraine’s Parliamentary Election: Poroshenko Leads Big at Campaign’s Start

By James Rupert

Early Voter Surveys Reflect Anti-Russian, Pro-Independence Mood Ukrainians will elect a new parliament in exactly thirty days, completing the electoral portion of the political revolution triggered by last winter’s Maidan movement. As the campaign began in recent weeks, two Ukrainian polling organizations conducted surveys that yielded similar numbers on the early mindset of Ukraine’s electorate. […]

Elections
Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 25, 2014

A Dangerous October: Ukraine Contests an Election As It Fears a Truce

By John E. Herbst

Kyiv Feels Little Supported by the West, Hopes to Survive an Unequal Ceasefire With Russia KYIVA junction of war and politics dominates public life in Ukraine as autumn settles firmly in Kyiv. An unequal cease-fire this month in southeast Ukraine will let Moscow maintain there a core of the invasion force it sent in last […]

Elections
Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2014

Russia Cracks Down in Crimea, Shuts Tatar Community Offices

By James Rupert

Police, Masked Thugs Bar Tatar, Other Ethnic Leaders From Attending UN Conference Today Russian authorities in Crimea have moved since last week to silence and isolate the peninsula’s main ethnic Tatar community and political organization, the Mejlis. Russia’s government has shut down the group’s headquarters in Crimea and tried to prevent Tatar representatives from attending […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2014

Russians Protest Putin’s War on Ukraine: What Does It Mean for Kyiv?

By James Rupert

Like Poroshenko’s Reception in Congress, It’s a Morale Boost—But Ukraine Is Fighting on Its Own Yesterday’s images from Moscow could hardly be more welcome for Ukrainians: thousands of Russians marching in their capital to condemn their government’s war against Ukraine. The protest was fueled partly by the spreading news in Russia that scores, perhaps hundreds, […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2014

Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert: Version 2.0

By James Rupert

With today’s edition, the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert newsletter is six months old. Readers will notice that it arrives in a new package: concise and colorful. Its content will remain much the same, although we’re always working to improve it.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2014

Poroshenko’s Stark Message to Washington

By John E. Herbst

Russia’s Assault Threatens Not Just Ukraine, but Europe and Eurasia Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered a stark but necessary message in Washington September 18.  Addressing a Joint Session of Congress, he noted that:

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2014

Can Ukraine’s Parliament Election Bring Moderate Voices From Embattled East?

Could Ukraine’s parliamentary elections in six weeks produce representatives from eastern Ukraine who might provide a clear alternative voice for that region, distinct from those of the thuggish, Kremlin-sponsored “people’s republics?” If so, that could offer President Petro Poroshenko a set of credible, more moderate interlocutors to bring into negotiations to come over the east’s […]

Elections
Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2014

Ukraine’s President Seeks Urgent US Help to Defend against Russian Aggression

By John E. Herbst

Petro Poroshenko Will Ask Congress’ Support in Getting US Weapons President Petro Poroshenko arrives in Washington this week at the most perilous moment in the history of independent Ukraine. After the Kremlin’s months of attacking Ukraine with its proxy militias, it directly invaded southeast Ukraine last month with thousands of regular Russian army troops, thus […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2014

Mariupol: Russia’s Next Target in Ukraine War?

A Strategic City Prepares Its Defense; But if Truce Fails, Its Fate Will be Uncertain Amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, no city is watching the viability of the fragile cease-fire with more apprehension than Ukraine’s second-largest seaport, Mariupol. That is because the city, home to steel mills and, normally, a half-million residents, will […]

Russia
Ukraine

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The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Nov 4, 2019

Why Andriy Bohdan is the wrong man for the time

By Yuri Polakiwsky

Despite his age, Bohdan has shown himself to be yesterday’s man. His personal profile is not indicative of the values that the public expects from its new generation of political leaders.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2019

Is Nord Stream 2 a done deal?

By Melinda Haring

The controversial natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany—Nord Stream 2—cleared its last obstacle this week.

Energy Markets & Governance
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2019

Another one to watch

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine needs more people with rich experience like Leonid Antonenko's to dig into the data and speak out.

Civil Society
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2019

Mariupol forum puts eastern Ukraine on investors’ maps

By Andy Hunder

Zelenskyy and his team delivered a clear and concise message in Mariupol: they are committed to their people in eastern Ukraine.

Economy & Business
International Markets

UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2019

What are Ukrainians willing to compromise for peace?

By Maria Zolkina

A strong demand for peace and the direct impact of the conflict do not make those who live in the government-controlled areas of the Donbas sympathetic to the most painful compromises.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2019

This should be Zelenskyy’s next big push

By Sergii Bondarchuk

Ukraine now has a chance to take the radical steps needed to re-build the SBU and establish a genuine security service under firm democratic control.

Corruption
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 28, 2019

Assessing Zelenskyy’s first six months

By Oleksiy Goncharenko

In general, it seems that Zelenskyy believes all complex issues have simple solutions.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2019

Ukraine’s new parliament is moving fast but is it getting anywhere?

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s new parliament has been in session for more than fifty days and it’s been operating at a frantic pace, so we’ve culled together a list of the best and worst based on conversations with MPs, judges, attorneys, economists, and other experts.

Civil Society
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2019

Is Ukraine’s new judicial reform a step forward?

By Olena Halushka and Halyna Chyzhyk

Ukraine’s new judicial reform is not ideal but urgent and long-awaited.

Civil Society
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Oct 22, 2019

The real cost of Russian gas

By Evgeniia Chirikova

As a result of the Nord Stream 2 project, Europeans will get more climate-friendly gas and Russians will choke on coal dust.

Geopolitics & Energy Security
Oil and Gas